Wednesday, February 26, 2014

My Alternative

As law students, there are a few phrases that you get used to hearing: “The legal market is terrible right now”; “You can only break into the entertainment industry if you have family connections”; “You have to be in the top ten percent of your class to get a decent job.” Stop me if you’ve heard this all before. Anyone contemplating a legal career shouldn’t take all this doom and gloom literally. However, you should understand the reality of the situation.

Ah, the good ol’ days, where most students would take a highly paid summer position at a firm their second year, only to receive an even higher paid position at the firm after graduating. You would be hard pressed to find a modern law student that does not fantasize about being born 15 years earlier in order to ride this gravy train. Although this train takes fewer tickets, our situation is really all about perspective. Either complain, or pave your own path to success. We won’t receive the handouts of the previous generation, but we will be all the stronger for it. This legal market is a sink or swim scenario and I will not be drowning with the complainers.

The Dotted Line Reporter was born out of this mentality. I have been a film fanatic ever since I was a kid. In fact, I chose to come to Loyola because of their amazing entertainment law program. The rest of the Dotted Line team shares my same passion for the entertainment industry, whether it is for music (Edo Azran), television (Danielle Duarte), sports (Johnny Storms), or art (Kate Brown). The DL Reporter is a manifestation of our shared love for the entertainment industry and the fields of law that affect it. Our mission is simple: to create a space where law students, lawyers, and creative professionals can come together to discuss the business and legal developments of the entertainment industry.

The DL Reporter’s team shares my proactive enthusiasm. We came together in hopes of not only creating an interesting alternative to the traditional law review, but to create a space where all likeminded individuals can have their opinions heard. The ingenuity that drove the creation of this website was born out of the bleak job market. We took the pessimistic outlook of many of our colleagues as inspiration to prove that we could find success outside of the traditional path. I challenge you to do the same. Let the doubts of others ignite a passion within yourself. Use your creative interests to invent, rather than distract. The Dotted Line Reporter is my alternative to the traditional path, what will yours be?